Weintraub proves a lot of why parents are blame for America’s obesity but I also blame the fast food companies. With so much advertising more children are easy to fall upon it. For example, “’The programs have become advertising for the food, and the food has become advertising for the programs,’” says Professor Linn of Harvard. (39). More and more vulnerable kids are intrigued by the media.
The situation is very ironic because the grocery stores with nutritious food advocates for fast food restaurants that are, in context, competing with their sales. Prices of fast food products appear cheaper than full home cooked meals. On average, costumers pay four dollars for a drink, a burger, and a side item. Additionally, fast food is fast. Each fast food corporation has special procedures to keep their paying costumers happy by giving them exactly what they asked for, fast food.
Today, we live in a consumerist society where cheap high-sugar and caloric foods are easily accessible everywhere you go. Many people who eat these ‘foods’ on a regular basis don’t realize the repercussion it has on their life and most importantly, on their children and their diet. Child obesity is a growing concern that has been getting much more serious throughout the decades. There have been several studies conducted in Australia to see why these children are making such poor food choices that cause their obesity. Several factors, of course are quite obvious such as the foods that are accessible to them at home and fast-food chains that swallow their attention with toys and other things they market in commercials.
Going through a drive-through is much more effective than sitting down at a restaurant or preparing meals at home. For the average working class family living life on the go, it can save a lot of time and money. Also, the industry itself creates and perpetuates millions of jobs for the economy (often with low wages and poor benefits). The most common reason people continue to eat fast food, despite their knowledge of the negative effects, is the simple fact that it tastes good. The addictive and yet fattening qualities associated with fast food leave people constantly craving one more bite.
He continues by saying that people also may say that fast food is cheaper when measured by the calorie but when half of the people in this country consume too many calories rather than too few, measuring food’s cost by the calorie makes no sense. Bittman clearly states that the cost of fast foods aren’t as cheap as we have all tricked ourselves into thinking and that the obvious choice should be home cooked meals. As well as using hard evidence, Bittman also manages to convince his readers of his credibility because of his background and knowledge of food. Appearing on NBC’s The Today Show, NPR’s All Things Considered and the author of three books relating to food, Bittman is multifaceted (Beyond Print 1). Bittman makes it clear a few times during the article that he likes to make home cooked meals and
As many commercials are for fast food, soft drinks, and cereals sweetened with sugar, one could argue that children are encouraged by the media to consume high fat, energy dense food” (Ebbeling, Pawlak, & Ludwig, 2002). The two key targets for the fast food industry to establish are: 1. Take ownership on education through messaging with nutritional labels posted on product. 2. Change in the marketing strategy and to make known a menu offering healthy
Americans are becoming comfortable with fast food and unhealthy choices. They have become too lazy to work off their bad choices in food so the effects keep adding up inside their body causing obesity. Obesity is the condition of being very fat or overweight. This is caused by the over consumption of food by many people. Most of us don’t have what we call, portion control, so we eat until we feel full causing our stomach to expand.
In his article,” In defense of food “: Michael Pollen established “what is food” and why do American’s eat nonfood in such large quantities?” Definitely, I’m agree about food labels do provide enough information for consumers to make an informed choice about what to feed their bodies. However consumers do not pay attention of the food labels because they do not really know about it as long it’s delicious. Surely, most food provides food labels because it is a
Any nutritious substance that is consumed or absorbed in order to maintain life and growth is considered food. From an early age, we try eating all sorts of edible substances and seem to only like the ones that are not as healthy for us. The more unhealthy it is, the more humans seem to like it. The more we eat these addictive foods, the more we search for remedies to lose the physical damage it carries on our bodies. Can these delicious canned soups or conveniently packaged frozen meals or sugary boxed cereals truly help us grow in the best of ways?
The fast food industry spends on average over $4.2 billion dollars a year solely on television advertisements (Fast Food Facts). Many of these commercials are targeted towards younger children and are shown on networks specifically for kids. These commercials use cartoon animation that will appeal to the eyes of children. The average preschooler views roughly three fast food commercials per day, children age’s six to eleven viewed four, and teens ages twelve to seventeen viewed roughly five (Fast Food Facts). During early childhood and teenage years humans undergo extremely important growth and development.